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CNET Editors' Rating

The GoodDesigned to meet the IP54 rugged standard, the Jabra Sport headset takes rough weather in stride. Wireless Bluetooth and a sports app tie-in make workouts less of a hassle.

The BadWith big earbuds and tight earloops, it's hard to get a secure fit with the Jabra Sport. Audio quality could be better.

The Bottom LineThe workout-friendly Jabra Sport is crafted to withstand exposure to water, dust, and drops without skipping a beat, but the tight fit and lackluster audio will leave all but the most serious fitness buffs craving something more.

Taking your Bluetooth handset for a walk or a run seems like a natural choice. Fortunately, Jabra thinks so too, and the company's Sport headset is designed to make outdoor activity even more enjoyable. It streams stereo audio wirelessly and lets you take important phone calls, while shrugging off spills, dust, and drops. Find out if the Sport has the right stuff to become your next workout buddy.

Design
Like other Jabra Bluetooth headsets such as the Jabra Supreme and the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC, the Jabra Sport uses a behind-the-ear battery pack design. While it lacks the long microphone boom arm found on both products and therefore isn't as bulky, I wouldn't call the Sport small. Weighing just 0.81 ounce, the Jabra Sport headset certainly is light.

The device relies on large earbud-style audio drivers that are covered with replaceable rubber tips. Though the earbuds are meant to rest just outside the ear canal, I personally found them too large for my small ears no matter which of the three types of bundled rubber tips I tried. Also, perhaps it's the Jabra Sport's rubberized outer surface or merely the earloops' tight fit, but I consistently had difficulty placing the headset correctly on my ears. The problem got worse when I wore eyeglasses or a thicker pair of Ray-Ban shades, so I guess midday runs along the beach could be an issue.

The Jabra Sport headset is light, but is also a tight fit and tricky to place properly.

Don't worry, though, if you ever drop the Jabra Sport into the surf. This hardy headset boasts IP54 rugged certification, an international standard that says that a product can survive exposure to splashes of water (5 minutes or 10 liters per minute) plus all but the most extreme levels of blowing dust particles. IP54 (ingress protection rating) also indicates the headset can handle occasional drops, too. I verified these claims by running the Sport a few times through an open kitchen faucet with no apparent effects.

Though it's a wireless Bluetooth device, the earpieces are linked together by a yellow cable. It's a tad short in my view, or perhaps I just have a thick neck. In any case, when I wore it the cord often snagged and pulled one of the Sport's earbuds askew. The cable is wide and flat, though, so cord tangles are less likely than with thin, round wires.

The Jabra Sport's cord connects the two earpieces and is on the short side, but is flat to resist tangles.

Controls on the Jabra Sport are minimal, with just three buttons on the right earpiece. Here, too, is a tiny circular Play/Pause key that also serves as an on/off switch. Running along the right earloop is a thin volume bar with an FM radio button below it. A flap covering the Sport's Micro-USB port is located on the earpiece's inner edge.

Features
If you're looking for native voice command features or slick automatic sensors here, you'll be disappointed. The Jabra Sport does announce "Power on" when you press the on button. It will also inform you that it has achieved a Bluetooth connection. I paired the Sport easily with my Samsung Galaxy Note test phone, which runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Selecting the headset within the phone's settings menu and linking to it was a snap, no passcodes required.

Brian Bennett is senior editor for appliances at CNET and reviews a wide range of household and smart-home products. These include everything from microwave ovens, blenders, ranges and coffee makers to personal weather stations. An NYC native, Brian now resides in bucolic Louisville, Kentucky where he dreams of someday owning the sparkling house of the future.
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